Just one in 18 people dependent on alcohol are getting help with their addiction from the NHS, a Commons committee report said today.

The disclosure comes in a public accounts committee (PAC) report which claims that efforts by the government and health service to curb growing alcohol-related harm have failed.

The NHS spends about £197 per head on heavy drinkers compared with £1,744 on drug addicts, even though far more people suffer harm from excessive consumption of alcohol, the committee found.

The chief executive of Alcohol Concern, Don Shenker, said: "If only one in 18 people [was] receiving treatment for cancer, high blood pressure or diabetes there would be a national outcry. Because alcohol dependency remains an often hidden problem ... it receives less funding than it should and people suffer needlessly."

PAC said availability of specialist services to help those dependent on alcohol varied in England.

Alcohol Concern called for an end to the "postcode lottery", and criticised primary care trusts for spending just 0.1% of their budgets on alcohol treatment.

"This is simply insufficient when compared to the suffering that alcohol misuse causes", said Shenker, who claimed spending in this area saved the NHS money, reduced absenteeism and lowered rates of crime and disorder.

Variation in access to treatment and poor co-ordination between services increased the risk that people who do get help would quickly relapse, the report said.

PAC chairman Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, said an effective response to alcohol was frustrated by Whitehall departments' failure to co-ordinate their efforts on issues such as licensing, taxation and glass sizes. The Department of Health should be put in charge, he added.

The director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Hugh Whittall, said it was time for a firmer approach to drinks producers and sellers. "Today's report rightly points out that NHS strategies have not been enough to address the problem," he said.